"All this region is very level and full of forests, vines and butternut trees. No Christian has ever visited this land and we had all the misery of the world trying to paddle the river upstream." Samuel de Champlain

Even with no additional chemicals added by gas companies, the water that flows back from hydro-fracked wells has enough heavy metals -- and often radioactivity -- to be classified as hazardous waste, said Ron Bishop, a biochemist at SUNY Oneonta who has also worked in construction with gas drillers.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation's draft regulations on gas drilling list 257 distinct chemicals that could be used in hydraulic fracturing; compound-specific toxicity data on many of those chemicals and their effects on human health and the environment are "very limited," he said."We're looking at a vast unknown," Shelley said. "Remember the precautionary principle? We don't see any of it here."

Of the fluid used to fracture a natural gas well to release the gas, 99.5 percent is water and sand, Shelley said. However, because one well can require 3 to 5 million gallons of water, that equates to 10 to 30 tons of chemicals, Bishop said.The risk with chemical use is not from the actual hydrofracking process but from transport and disposal, Bishop said. "Hydrofracturing is not the boogeyman under the bed; it is not going to hurt you," Bishop said. "You're more likely to have problems with transporting the 10 to 30 tons of chemicals to the drilling site." That kind of accident has occurred, Shelley said, citing an incident last March when a tanker truck filled with hydrofluoric acid overturned in Pennsylvania, requiring emergency crews to close the road and evacuate 5,000 residents.

Even tiny amounts of some chemicals can act as endocrine disruptors, said Adam Law, a physician at Cayuga Medical Center who specializes in endocrinology. One study on the chemical makeup of some fluids used in hydrofracking determined that more than 40 percent of the chemicals used are endocrine disruptors, which can cause things like birth defects, reproductive problems and cancer, he said. Tracing a cause of endocrine disruption is sometimes extremely difficult -- in the case of one medication frequently given to pregnant women a generation ago, the negative health effect appeared in their children, who developed extremely unusual tumors.

Companies should disclose not just what their fracking fluids are used for, but the actual chemical composition, so state regulators can assess risk and study future effects, Law said.

Part of the reason for non-disclosure is because the fracking formulas are proprietary, but the other part is that gas companies "don't want us to ask too many questions," Law said."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"Saranac River cleanup to begin this spring

PLATTSBURGH — Efforts to remove contaminated sediment along a section of the Saranac River near downtown Plattsburgh will begin this spring. The Department of Environmental Conservation is overseeing plans to remove an estimated 39,200 cubic tons of sediments and riverbank contaminated with coal tar from a manufactured-gas plant that operated for decades at the Saranac Street location.

“A considerable volume of coal tar leaked into the sandy soil and eventually found its way into the Saranac River over a 60-year period,” DEC Project Manager Lech Dolata said during a public hearing at Stafford Middle School. “We’ve looked at several plans and have come up with an option we feel benefits everyone — the fish, the residents, the school.”

Engineers have spent the past few years cleaning contaminated soil from the property adjacent to the work site and had to occasionally adjust activities when concerns of foul odors or other health issues arose from area residents or nearby Stafford Middle School. That project, which ended last fall, helped remove 151,970 tons of tar-contaminated soils, materials that would have eventually made their way into the Saranac and Lake Champlain.

The upcoming river phase of the project is expected to take three years, with activities in the river itself limited to May through September to reduce the project’s impact on the spring and fall spawning runs for the fish populations. “Our design provides for a fish passage (during those months of activity),” Dolata said. “The option we’ve selected requires excavation under dry conditions to prevent the re-distribution of contaminants down river.”That means workers will place dams above and below the work site to stop the river flow while contaminated sediment between the dams is removed.

A temporary canal will be built around the work site to provide a continued flow of river water to the lake, but the project requires that workers return the river to its original condition before work ends for the season. Warning signs will be placed above and below the temporary dams. A portage will be installed for canoeists and kayakers moving up and down the river, though Dolata said the temporary passage should be navigable as well.

Air quality will be monitored throughout the work seasons, with a minimum of six monitoring stations located around the site. Two monitors will also be in place at Stafford Middle School: one at the school’s main air intake and a second at the soccer field. Those stations will monitor both dust particles and vapor levels in the air. The school’s air system also has 54 carbon air filters capable of filtering out volatile substances. Excavated sediment will be treated on site to remove water, and the dry sediment will then be shipped off site to a licensed hazardous-waste landfill.

Workers will attempt to restore the river to its original state, including the replacement of large boulders and deep pools that give fish resting and hiding spots. Digital mapping of the river bottom before work will give workers a snapshot to help return the river to its natural setting, Dolata said. Also, surveys will continue on the Saranac River below the work site to determine how much coal tar has made its way downstream and what kind of remedies may be needed for those portions of the lake.

Gas was manufactured at the Saranac Street site from 1896 to 1944 by the Plattsburgh Light, Heat and Power Co. and from 1944 to 1960 by New York State Gas and Electric. Gas produced from the plant was used for lighting, cooking, heating and other purposes. NYSEG has been investigating and working on correcting the site since 1976 and signed an agreement with DEC in 1994 to remove the contamination. NYSEG is not required to release figures on the overall cost of the project, Dolata said, but he estimated the cost for Phase 2 at between $13 million and $20 million."

TAHLEQUAH — The Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission may soon begin real-time Internet reporting of bacteria and phosphorus levels in the Illinois River. The proposal was made to commissioners by the U.S. Geological Survey during the OSRC’s regular meeting Tuesday night. The OSRC tabled the proposition to allow time to plan for funding.

Two members questioned the proposal, and voiced concern about the negative message that could be sent about the river should the public have unfettered access to raw water quality data. OSRC Chairman Gerald Hilsher, along with commissioners Dr. Riley Needham and Randy Corp, said the information is necessary. “Knowledge is good, and I’m not afraid of the information,” said Hilsher. Needham, a scientist, said instantaneous water quality information might help the public understand what river conditions actually are.

OSRC Commissioner David Spears, co-owner of Arrowhead Camp, said that in his 20-year experience running a float operation on the river, he’d never heard of anyone who had become ill from the Illinois River. Hilsher countered Spears’ remark, saying people often can’t pinpoint what makes them sick. “If I came to the river and got sick, I’d probably blame it on too much beer or a bad piece of fried chicken [before] I would on bacteria in the river,” said Hilsher.

The estimated cost of the project is $95,000, half of which must come from the OSRC. In the meantime, commissioners hope to get an update from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board stating whether the Illinois River is meeting state beneficial use standards.

According to Ed Brocksmith, former OSRC commissioner and member of Save the Illinois River Inc., every one of Oklahoma’s six scenic rivers is listed by the state as impaired by bacteria and failing to meet the criteria for body contact. Brocksmith thinks the USGS proposal would provide invaluable information on safety conditions for the public.

“From my more than 30 years’ experience in news reporting and public information, I know of no cases where the public has not been well-served by too much timely and accurate information,” said Brocksmith. “When I was at KRMG in Tulsa, the station once was criticized by the police chief for making live, continuous tornado reports. To our great satisfaction, hundreds of our listeners wrote letters to the station, saying that just knowing what was happening eased their fears.

“Instantaneous reporting of bacteria and pollution data and making the information available to the public on the Web can only help protect and preserve the Illinois River and Lake Tenkiller,” he said. “Objections by canoe outfitters who sell float trips even during flood conditions just don’t compute.”"

"Removing nitrogen from Lake Winnipeg a waste of millions: water expert

WINNIPEG - One of Canada's leading scientists says Manitoba is squandering millions on a plan to reduce nitrogen to clean up Lake Winnipeg, one of the world's largest bodies of fresh water. David Schindler, who started studying the lake 40 years ago, says other lakes around the world are being rehabilitated by targeting phosphorus, the real culprit in feeding damaging blue-green algae blooms.

The province is forcing Winnipeg to spend $350 million to reduce nitrogen, but Schindler says that's not the right substance to focus on. "Removing the nitrogen is wrong," says Schindler, a University of Alberta professor who has won international awards for his fresh water research. "We need that money. I would be the last person to say let's cut corners on pollution or let's cut corners and have poor water quality. People drink the water from that lake and, in the summer, it's high in toxins in a lot of places. "That money is needed, but not to remove nitrogen."

Satellite images have shown massive blooms of algae taking over large swaths of Lake Winnipeg's north end. The algae can suck oxygen from the water and produce a number of toxins that are harmful to fish, humans and other living things. Manitoba committed six years ago to bring nitrogen and phosphorus amounts in Lake Winnipeg back down to pre-1970 levels. To that end, the NDP government has placed controversial restrictions on hog farmers, seriously curbing the use of pesticides near waterways and limited the spreading of manure.

A ban is expected to come into effect this year on dishwasher detergents that contain phosphorus. But the province has raised the ire of Winnipeg municipal officials by forcing taxpayers to spend $350 million to upgrade the city's wastewater treatment facilities in the name of nitrogen reduction.

Schindler likened those advocating nitrogen removal to climate change deniers. "There are 1,000 people on one side and two or three obnoxious, vociferous people on the other who are very smooth," says Schindler, adding the province has been misled. "No matter how good you are, you blow one once and a while and I think they've blown this one." Manitoba Conservation Minister Bill Blaikie was not available for comment.

Schindler says any rehabilitation of the 10th largest body of freshwater in the world, covering 24,000 square kilometres, is going to take time. He says it took 50 years to "screw it up" and will likely take at least a few decades of concerted effort to undo that damage.

But Terry Sargeant, chairman of Manitoba's Clean Environment Commission, says Schindler's arguments haven't changed his mind. High levels of nitrogen are harmful to the lake and reducing them isn't a waste of money, he says. "Nitrogen is a serious nutrient that has a lot of negative effects," Sargeant says. "It does affect other plants and animals in the environment. It can potentially affect amphibians, other plankton in the water column. It can affect the growth of plants in the water column which is all part of the food chain in the lake." The commission took arguments like Schindler's into account before it made recommendations to the government, advocating the reduction of nitrogen, he says. "There was nothing new presented here today," Sargeant says.

Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz is still hoping Schindler's science will sway those at the commission and the Manitoba legislature. They are ignoring "hard science," he says. "I think most citizens would agree that $350 million, plus another $9 million annually in operating costs, is a huge expenditure that should be receiving far more scrutiny," Katz says. "

MONTPELIER — When Paul Blanch heard that the Vermont Legislature would take one more day of testimony before voting on the future of its nuclear power plant, the West Hartford, Conn., resident jumped into his car and drove to the Green Mountain State. Blanch, a retired nuclear engineer with more than 40 years of experience in the field, made the 200 mile drive on his own dime.

"I'm not here representing anyone," Blanch said. "I'm also not anti-nuclear. I consider myself a proponent of safe nuclear power." Vermont Yankee, Blanch contends, is not safe nuclear power. "The place was designed for 40 years," he told the Senate Natural Resources Committee on Thursday morning. Hours later, he was called over to the Senate Finance Committee, which was finalizing testimony on this week's Vermont Yankee bill. "It's unacceptable to me to imagine that plant running for another 20 years," he told that committee.

In 1988, Blanch became a nuclear power whistleblower when he told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that his employer, Millstone Nuclear Power Plant in Connecticut, was experiencing major malfunctions with a piece of safety equipment. It wasn't just that plant; the problem was industry-wide.

"The NRC has a run-to-failure policy," said Blanch, who says this is a classic case of the regulators being too close to the industry. "They don't have a plan for dealing with things like tritium. Right now, they are in panic mode over what's happening."

New York state's Indian Point 2 reactor had what Blanch calls a major tritium leak in February 2009 when a pipe ruptured and sent an estimated millions of gallons of radioactive water into the environment. Blanch said the NRC shrugged off the accident, not even issuing a news release about the problem. Entergy, which owns Indian Point 2, determined that the cause of the leak was corrosion of its underground pipes.

"I believe that plant leaked millions of gallons of water," he said. "I contend that it had been leaking for 30 years."

But Blanch contends that tritium leaks from underground pipes are not the main problem facing nuclear power plants such as Vermont Yankee and Indian Point. These leaks are symptoms of a larger issue: the advanced age of the facilities and the continued delay in upkeep of the infrastructure. These power plants are simply too old, he said."

RESEARCH has linked toxicity in a Tasmanian river used for drinking water to the leaves of genetically improved plantation eucalypt trees, prompting calls for a wider inquiry. A long investigation by Dr Bleaney and Sydney scientist Marcus Scammell -- involving the testing of water at independent laboratories interstate -- concluded a toxin found in the George River on Tasmania's east coast was from the leaves of the eucalyptus nitens.The species is widely used by forestry companies for plantation forests, which cover an estimated 300,000ha of Tasmania.

Having found that water samples from the George River were toxic to water fleas, oyster larvae and sea urchins, the two doctors sent water samples to the University of NSW for testing on human cell lines.

University environmental toxicologist Christian Khalil said whatever agent was in the water was 100 per cent toxic to human skin, liver and lung cells."

The beaver that adopted the section of the river in front of our home is still at work. Things have changed a lot in the past few weeks: temperatures are milder, the water level went down, and the tree that the beaver ringed 3 weeks ago is now down.

Putting a price on nature becomes meaningless if we treat the ecosystems upon which we depend as mere commodities with a price for trading. The economy is no stranger to creating its own fantasy world with little or no relation to the real one. We witnessed the damage that can cause when the banks thought they had stumbled on financial alchemy and could transform bad debt into good – economic base metal into gold.

Now it's possible that a much bigger error is coming to light. The rise and rise of global corporations lifted on a wave of apparent productivity gains may have been little more than a mask for the reckless liquidation of natural capital. It's as if we've been so distracted by our impressive speed of economic travel that we forgot to look at the fuel gauge or the cloud of smog left in our wake.

A new UN report estimates that accounting for the environmental damage of the world's 3,000 biggest companies would wipe out one-third of their profits. Any precise figure, however, is a matter of how risk is quantified and of where you draw the line. In 2006, for example, the New Economics Foundation (NEF), of which I am the policy director, looked at the oil companies BP and Shell, who together had recently reported profits of £25bn. By applying the Treasury's own estimates of the social and environmental cost of carbon emissions, we calculated that the total bill for those costs would reach £46.5bn, massively outweighing profits and plunging the companies into the red.

Yet in exercises like this, we quickly hit the paradox of environmental economics. By putting a price on nature, hopefully it makes it less likely that we will treat the world, and its natural resources, as if it were a business in liquidation. Yet there is a point when it becomes meaningless to treat the ecosystems upon which we depend as mere commodities with a price for trading. For example, what price would you put on the additional tonne of carbon which, when burned, triggers irreversible, catastrophic climate change? Who would have the right to even consider selling off the climate upon which civilisation depends? The avoidance of such damage is literally priceless.

If that sounds dramatic, consider that last September a large, international group of scientists published a paper in the journal Nature which identified nine key planetary boundaries for key biological systems upon which we depend. They found that we had already transgressed three of those, and were on the cusp of several others. All are potential points of no return as such complex systems begin interacting.

The huge advantage of the UN work is that it attempts to improve the feedback system between the economy and its ultimate parent company, the biosphere. Better risk assessment and value measurement is essential to help prevent what happened to banks happening to the planet.

The concept of a balanced budget, so loved by conservatives in relation to finance and spending, seems to be an alien concept when the consumption of natural resources and the production of waste is concerned. Yet it is far more important to achieve a balanced environmental budget than an economic one. You can always print more money, but you can't print more planet. As John Ruskin put it, "There is no wealth but life.""

OTTAWA — Genetically engineered pigs are one step closer to becoming meat on Canadian kitchen tables with the federal government poised to declare that they do not harm the environment. Canwest News Service has learned Environment Canada has determined that Yorkshire pigs developed at the University of Guelph are not toxic to the environment under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. The official declaration will be made on Saturday.

This is the first regulatory hurdle to get the pigs to market, which will be a first in the country if Health Canada approves Guelph's pending application, submitted last year, seeking a government declaration that its transgenic pig is fit for human consumption. The so-called "Enviropigs," the world's first transgenic animal created to solve an environmental problem, were created in 1999 with a snippet of mouse DNA introduced into their chromosomes. The pigs produce low-phosphorus feces.

(...)

Guelph's Enviropig research project has received funding from both industry and government, including Ontario Pork, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Agriculture Canada.

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration last year paved the way for Americans to eat genetically engineered meat and fish when the regulator ruled that transgenic animals will be considered as an "animal drug" — and held to the same requirements already existing for conventionally bred animals treated with hormones or antibiotics."

Nationwide, stormwater is a leading source of water pollution. About 13 percent of U.S. rivers, 18 percent of lakes and 32 percent of estuaries are classified as impaired by stormwater, which means they are rendered unsafe for swimming or fishing. It also contributes to the degradation of many more waterways.

“You have marine impacts, ecosystem impacts, and public health impacts,” said David Beckman, co-director of the National Resource Defense Council’s national water program. “It’s really a multiplicity of problems. Pollutants in urban settings are many and of a wide variety, and all of them - if you don’t treat and successfully reduce the pollution - are getting into the receiving water, be it a river or lake or the ocean.”

In a natural system, rainwater doesn’t travel very far. It soaks into the soil and is taken up by plants. The quick infiltration prevents the water from transporting contaminants and keeps waterways from eroding.

But the concrete and asphalt of the urban jungle is anything but natural. Instead of soaking into the ground, rain runs across impervious surfaces, picking up contaminants along the way. By the time it reaches a stream or lake, the runoff can be full of metals, oil, grease, bacteria and other contaminants.

Stormwater also picks up speed. When it hits a stream it scours sediment, dislodges benthic invertebrates and erodes banks, effectively demolishing the natural habitat.

Responding to the criticism, the EPA is now writing new regulations - expected to be enacted in 2012 - that will define what is expected of developers, possibly by setting limits for stormwater volume or concentrations of contaminants.

The rules may include guidelines for techniques such as rain gardens, rain barrels, green roofs, green streets and porous pavements, said Connie Bosma, the municipal branch chief in the EPA’s water permits division."

"No biosolids on his back 40 Sewage sludge has no place in agriculture, farmer says. Greg Webster is an eighth-generation farmer in Nova Scotia. And apart from the fruit, berries and beans that he grows on his farm in Cambridge, Kings County, Webster is known for speaking his mind. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he’s weighing in on the controversial issue of spreading treated sewage sludge on farmland.

The use of biosolids as fertilizer will compromise the land and raise food safety issues in the minds of consumers, hurting farmers in the long run, he said in an interview at his large farm that abuts both sides of Highway 1 just east of Berwick. "I think, as an industry, we need to take the high road, not the low road," said Webster, who sits on several agricultural committees and worked with the Canadian Horticultural Council in developing a food safety program for fruit growers. Food safety and land preservation issues should prevent farmers from spreading treated sewage sludge on their land, he said. "And it may be legal, but there is legal and there is right, and this just isn’t right."

Webster Farms, also owned and operated by brothers Chris and Brian, sells product to Loblaw Companies Ltd. and Sobeys, which have food safety protocols. "The retail industry has basically told suppliers they must guarantee the quality of their food," Webster said. The Canadian Horticultural Council, with support from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, spent the last eight years putting together food safety programs. "And one of the issues is biosolids," said Webster, who sat on the berry crops safety committee. "In the food safety program, it says that municipal waste cannot be used, period."

Loblaw is requiring all of its suppliers to use the council’s food safety programs and to pass an annual food safety audit. Using biosolids on farmland results in an automatic failing grade, "and when they score you with a fail in any audit, the auditor walks out the door and you’re done," said Webster. As part of the food safety programs, farmers are responsible for knowing what took place on that land over the previous five years.

"There is a lot of land trading and crop rotation in the Valley," Webster said. "If we get enough land covered with municipal waste that we can’t rotate fruit and vegetable crops through it, we’ve diminished our viable land base." And that flies in the face of recent efforts to protect prime agricultural land, he said."I know Halifax Regional Municipality has a sewage problem, but is it prudent to shove the problem onto your own food supply?"

He said consumers will shun products grown in biosolids. "If we keep this up, we won’t need to protect farmland, because we’re going to have denied ourselves the market." The province says it is up to individual farmers if they want to use the material on their land."

"The river tells no lies, yet standing at its shores the dishonest man still hears them" Oma Desala

That saying from a being that lived many years in another universe can be understood in many ways. I lived all my life on the shores of a great river and seen its deterioration through the years, and I feel for these words.

The river tells no lies, indeed, for those who are willing to see what is there in plain sight: the color of the water, the river bottom, the living beings and the plants all say the same thing. It is getting dirtier, no doubt about that. The scientific research, the reports, the recommendations: the facts have been known for a while now, but brushed aside by those that or can't act on them or don't want to.

Je conclue: "Si je prends mon temps et je parle de même, c'est parce qu'on est en beau tabarnouche à Richelieu, okay!?"After the scandal of the pig farm in Richelieu in the fall of 2005, the people downriver decided they needed a meeting with elected officials, representatives of the different ministries involved and have some information made available. It is meant to be the ultimate meeting where citizens could have their concerns addressed regarding the pork industry within our mists. The meeting is to start at 9AM and end at 11:30. My favorite civil servant shows up VERY late and is given the mike at 11:11. He stops talking at 11:29. If he thought that meant us "regular folks" would go home in peace, he was WRONG!

With a strained voice, I tried to go point by point the things that had been said that I did not agree with. Richelieu is famous for its noisy public consultation on the pig farm. I've heard many say its the most objection they ever saw to a pig farm. It is not true. Maybe we had the most media coverage, but for years now people have been in revolt against the ever increasing pig production in the province. The farmer's union and the pig production federation like to split hairs, saying we have small pig farms compared to the US and we should not call them mega-porcheries. I then clarify the subject by saying we call it the pork industry, not farming. Another key phrase that keeps creeping up is that we had an emotional reaction to the pig farm, and that if we were more informed of the facts, we would accept the pig production within our mists. I object to that by saying we had plenty of time to read the BAPE report on the pig production that traveled all through the province, and citizens are revolted to observe that most recommendations of the BAPE have not been put in application. THAT is why we are so emotional about the subject, not because we don't know anything about it.

The first recommendation from the pork federation to farmers who want to build a piggery is to go talk to the neighbors. Nobody in Richelieu knew about the pig farm till much after the permit was given out by the government to go ahead and produce (except the booted-out mayor). The so called "public consultation" meeting is nothing but an information session: the permit is already given and the paying taxpayers have nothing to say about it. In Richelieu, 73% of taxpayers' money come from residential sources, and we had just been subjected to a 20% increase: how many know that farmers get refunded part of their municipal taxes?

Public confidence in our elected officials of all levels is broken: all our objections to the pig farm were answered by empty political gibberish. A lot of our public servants have also given us empty answers that just monopolize public meetings. When they talk about pollution, only phosphorus is mentioned, while everybody knows pig slurry also spreads pesticides, hormones, antibiotics and superbugs. Great emphasis is given to the fact that MRCs decide where pig production and spreading can be done: I mention the fact that nobody looks downriver, and pollution within a given watershed should be taken into account before any permits are given. A public servant says soil and water conditions are taken into account before a permit for a pig farm is given: I say it is a lie. Our public water system was told that an environmental impact study should be done before the pig farm be built, otherwise it is very possible that upgrades will have to be done to our water filtering plant to insure drinking water quality. I add that a lot of private wells were fine till imported liquid manure spreading started in Richelieu and all Public Health has to say about this is that private water wells should be tested twice a year by the owner, at his own expense.

I add that the provincial fauna refuge was never taken into account before the piggery was approved: I had submitted a written commentary at the public consultation, but the consultation's report does not even mention the Copper redhorse. I add that our citizens' group paid a firm to do a scientific evaluation of odor dispersion coming from the barns and manure pits and that the meters recommended by our government for distances between piggeries and people should be in kilometers, not meters. I added that it is good that our government recognized the validity of our study, but it should also be incorporated into the laws.

At this point, the moderator wants me to hurry up and conclude. I point out that the late Jacques Roy had 18 minutes to talk, and that I also had the right to take the time to say the things I had to say and agreed to do so as quickly as possible.(Here, we can hear a woman giggle in the background).

Someone during the meeting noted that a lot of unusually heavy rainfall was observed recently. I added here that indeed, people in Richelieu could see that before fore-casted rain, it was usual procedure to spread the slurry. I recalled that in October or November last year, just before a heavy rainfall warning from Environment Canada, slurry spreading was done in Richelieu. And as usual, when the agriculture sector is present, emphasis is given to the suicide rate and depression in the farming community. I observed that perhaps it was the farmers' union indoctrination that was the cause, or the pressure from integrators to get deeper in dept that was the cause. The farmer's union UPA even complained of intimidation and threats. Well I mentioned that our City Hall received their visit and the UPA made a point in saying that they can block roads and have already done so in the past. I asked why a farmer had to pay an ad in the local newspaper to specify that he would no longer work with the CRMQV and that he is saying so not because he received instructions from the UPA to do it! "Who is doing the intimidation here?, I asked. We are just trying to defend ourselves!" I added.

Another argument from the pro-pork side is that the value of houses is not affected. I said that any real estate agent would agree that a house near a pig farm or that will be near a pig farm takes longer to sell, and it would be foolish not to agree with that.

I finish by saying that my tight voice and slow enunciation is due to the fact that we are very mad in Richelieu.

Scientists studying burbot in the Mackenzie River, one of the country's most pristine rivers, have been surprised to discover that mercury, PCBs and DDT in the fish are rising rapidly, a finding they say is linked to climate change.

The increase in the amount of harmful chemicals has been huge. In the period from the mid-1990s to 2008, PCBs have risen up to six times, DDT by three times, and mercury by 1.6 times in the burbot, a delicacy in the north described as tasting like a freshwater lobster.

The discovery of the rising tally of harmful pollutants in fish in such a remote area of the Northwest Territories was doubly unusual for researchers because contaminant levels should have been going down, based on the declining amount of the chemicals in the general environment. Both PCBs and DDT have been banned for at least the past quarter-century, while mercury concentrations have generally been stable or falling slightly.

Dr. Stern said researchers do not know whether contaminants are increasing in fish elsewhere. The burbot were caught near Fort Good Hope, where temperatures have risen an average of 1.9 degrees since the early 1970s. But he has been part of a wider research effort that has found strong hints that warming is driving a rapid increase in biological activity in the north, with the potential to increase harmful chemical residues in animals."

In Quebec, when roads and property are in danger of crumbling down into nearby rivers because of erosion, the official way to make repairs is to use a lot of rock to replace eroded banks. On the street where I live, because of continuous encroachment and tree and brush cutting, the road and infrastructures also where in danger of tumbling into the river. Major work had to be done. It's not a pretty sight!

Recently, researchers at UC Santa Cruz, and elsewhere, announced that Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is a prion disease. “Prion” = proteinaceous infectious particle which causes always fatal TSEs (Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies) in humans and animals including BSE (Mad Cow Disease), scrapie in sheep and goats, and Chronic Wasting Disease in deer, elk and moose. Human prion diseases are AD and CJD (Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease,) and other rarer maladies. Infectious prions have been found in human and animal muscle tissue including heart, saliva, blood, urine, feces and many other organs.

“Prions could end up in wastewater treatment plants via slaughterhouse drains, hunted game cleaned in a sink, or humans with vCJD shedding prions in their urine or faeces. Alzheimer's rates are soaring as Babyboomers age - there are now over 5.3 million AD victims in US shedding infectious prions in their blood, urine and feces, into public sewers. This Alzheimer's epidemic has almost 500,000 new victims each year. No sewage treatment process inactivates prions - they are practically indestructible. The wastewater treatment process reconcentrates the infectious prions in the sewage sludge.

The US Environmental Protection Agency, says wastewater/sewage treatment does not inactivate prions. U. S. Dept. of Agriculture: “Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or “mad cow disease” can survive anaerobic digestion.” University of Guelph, Toronto, Canada, says temperatures in excess of 1400 F (760C) are needed to inactivate prions. Prions become 680 times more infectious in certain types of soil. Prions can survive for over 3 years in soils. And human prions are 100,000 times more difficult to inactivate than animal prions."

An unusual public-private coalition is on a search for landowners willing to turn their marginal, boggy farm fields back into wetlands. Time is running out, at least for this year. By March 1, the Vermont office of the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service must commit up to $2.5 million to wetlands restoration, or lose access to the money. In 2009, the local office was able to use only $1.5 million of the $6 million available to it.

Ducks Unlimited, the hunting and conservation group, is helping with outreach to farmers. Wetlands near Lake Champlain provide important stopping places for migrating geese and ducks. Friends of Northern Lake Champlain, a Franklin County group, is talking to farmers in the Missisquoi Bay watershed. Wetlands play an important role in protecting and improving water quality. Both private groups have funding from Clean and Clear, the state government program dedicated to reducing fertilizer pollution that drives algae blooms and weed growth in Lake Champlain.

"Wetlands are a giant environmental sponge," Clean and Clear Director Julie Moore said Monday. "They are a sink, where sediment and nutrients can be deposited and taken up by wetland plants." Wetlands also trap water after storms, slowing down the floods that erode streambanks and further contribute to nutrient pollution.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced last week it is adding a technical specialist whose job will be to design the changes needed on a piece of land to allow it to revert to wetlands. Wetlands along some rivers provide spawning grounds for northern pike and other fish. The federal Wetlands Reserve Program pays landowners an average of just under $1,200 an acre for a permanent easement to turn fields back into wetlands. The program also pays the cost of restoration.

Land in the program tends to be low-lying, along the edge of rivers like Otter Creek and its tributaries. Once, the land was floodplain forest or swamp. In the heyday of agriculture, farmers ditched and drained the swamps to create land for corn and hay.Trouble is, a lot of that land wants to be wet, still frequently floods and is marginal for crop production.

The Wetlands Reserve Program has been around in Vermont since 1998, but until last year it was a tiny program, spending about $200,000 on a couple of projects a year. In 10 years, the program restored 1,700 acres of wetlands."

Fini le droit de polluer!Eau de rivière après une pluie~River water after rain

"Protect waterways with same rules for all polluters

Iowa has a double standard about sewage. The state's inconsistent rules for waste from cities and industries, compared with the regulations that apply to industrial agriculture, are jeopardizing our water quality and punishing the citizens of our communities.

State laws and agency regulations require municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants to collect and treat their sewage, and to obtain permits to discharge effluent from their treatment facilities. We know who these "point-source" polluters are, and we strive to keep them in check.

Industrial livestock confinements also produce sewage, but these operations have escaped the point-source restrictions because they have been defined as "agriculture." With today's industrial scale, however, these confinements are no different than cities or industries in terms of the amount of waste produced. Although confinement waste is produced by agricultural animals, it is not what most people would describe as "manure." Confinement animal waste sits in a pit, tank or lagoon and cooks for several months, turning into a toxic sewage. That confinement waste generates hydrogen-sulfide and ammonia - poison sewer gases that are constantly vented into the air that neighbors must breathe. Confinements also produce and discharge methane, a toxic greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.

Cities and industries must collect and treat their waste before discharging it. In contrast, industrial confinements only collect and store their waste, but then are allowed to dispose of it on farm fields without treating it. That untreated sewage often enters our rivers, streams and groundwater.

It's time to require the agricultural community to pay its share of the cleanup. We should apply the same standards to the wastewater from confinement operations as we do to municipal and industrial wastewater treatment facilities. We should require them to build a treatment facility, just as we impose that requirement on Iowa communities. If producers of livestock sewage don't want this regulation, they should adopt sustainable models of agriculture that return manure to the land as fertilizer, rather than convert it to a toxic waste.

Whatever the source, untreated sewage pollutes our waters, kills aquatic organisms, affects the health of our citizens, and impacts the quality of life. Those who produce sewage - whether cities, industries, or industrial confinements - should follow the same strict environmental rules. Until this happens, it is pointless to impose any further regulations, including these anti-degradation regulations, on point-source dischargers."

I'm the second generation of my family that lives in Richelieu, Quebec, in Canada. My family tree, both from my mother's and my father's side, has its roots in Quebec since the beginning of the 1600s: my ancestors crossed the ocean from France, leaving Perche and Normandy behind them. Both French AND English are my mother tongues: I learned to talk in both languages when I was a baby, and both my parents were perfectly bilingual too.